MUMBAI: Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd has drawn up a rich line of movies for telecast on its Hindi movie channel, Filmy.

The first jewel in the crown to air on the channel is Sarkar, one of the biggest Bollywood hits of 2005. The film, which stars Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek, will be telecast on Tuesday (28 February) at 8 pm. Following soon will be No Entry, a mega hit in the box office. The other films on the March roster are Fareb, Jo Bole So Nihal and Bewafaa.

Says Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited CEO Shantonu Aditya, Filmy is our biggest initiative this year. The biggest films on the channel in February-end and March include two of 2005s blockbusters, Sarkar and No Entry. Filmy will, in fact, have three world TV premieres -- No Entry, Fareb and Jo Bole So Nihal - in March. We shall also air Bewafaa, another hit from 2005, next month.

Filmy is battling against three firmly entrenched channels in the marketplace, Zee Cinema, Max and Star Gold. Though a late entrant, the digitally encrypted channel can take support from the fact that Sahara One Motion Pictures has rolled out several superhits including Page 3 and Hanuman.

Aditya is bullish about the channel's growth since its launch on 12 February. "The sampling has been good. We hope the big movies will further drive our connectivity. We expect to cross over a total of 5,000 boxes after the next two weeks," he says.